Pagans endure suffering for vanity

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Tertullian is addressing imprisoned Christians, giving examples of pagans who voluntarily endured suffering for earthly glory or vanity.

I pass over the motive of glory for now. Vanity and a kind of sickness of mind have already trampled down all these same contests of cruelty and torture among men. How many idle men does vanity for arms hire out to the sword? Certainly they go down to face the beasts themselves out of vanity, and they think themselves more handsome for the bites and the scars. Some have even hired themselves out to the fires, so that they might run a fixed distance in a burning tunic. Others have walked about among the bulls of the beast-hunters with most patient shoulders. God has not admitted these things into the world without reason, blessed ones, but to exhort us now and to confound us on that day, if we shall have feared to suffer for truth unto salvation what others have pursued out of vanity unto destruction.

Latin

Omitto nunc gloriae causam. Eadem omnia saevitiae et cruciatus certamina iam apud homines affectatio quoque et morbus quidam animi conculcavit. Quot otiosos affectatio armorum ad gladium locat? Certe ad feras ipsas affectatione descendunt, et de morsibus et de cicatricibus formosiores sibi videntur. Iam et ad ignes quidam se auctoraverunt, ut certum spatium in tunica ardente conficerent. Alii inter venatorum taureas scapulis patientissimis inambulaverunt. Haec, benedicti, non sine causa dominus in saeculum admisit, sed ad nos et nunc exhortandos et in illo die confundendos, si reformidaverimus pati pro veritate in salutem quae alii affectaverunt pro vanitate in perditionem.

About this text

Tertullian writes to Christians in prison who may die for their faith, to strengthen them for what lies ahead.

Tertullian (c. 155–c. 220) wrote this short treatise to Christians in prison awaiting possible martyrdom. He was a Christian writer in Carthage, and the work likely dates from the early years of Roman persecution, around 197 AD, though some place it during the persecution of 202–203 AD. He wrote to encourage and strengthen imprisoned believers, offering spiritual nourishment to accompany the physical food supplied by the church.

The letter addresses Christians held in prison for their faith. Tertullian urges them to preserve peace and unity among themselves, since discord would give the devil a victory in his own house. He reframes the prison as a place of spiritual retreat rather than punishment, arguing that the world itself is a darker prison and that Christians have already renounced it. He presents their imprisonment as training for the spiritual contest of martyrdom, comparing it to the strict discipline of athletes and soldiers.

A reader will meet many pagan examples of endurance: Lucretia, Mucius, Heraclitus, Empedocles, Peregrinus, Dido, Hasdrubal's wife, Regulus, Cleopatra, and an unnamed Athenian courtesan. Tertullian argues that if pagans endured or even sought out bitter sufferings for earthly fame, through mental affliction, or through involuntary misfortune, Christians should gladly endure them for truth and salvation. Key terms include "martyrs," "prison," "spirit," "flesh," "world," "contest," "glory," "vanity," "retreat," "training ground," "prize," and "crown." He quotes the apostle Paul from 1 Corinthians and alludes to Matthew. The Lacedaemonians are the Spartans, and the tortoise formation is a Roman military maneuver in which soldiers locked shields together.

New English from the Latin base text; no published English used as wording.

Printed text used

Translated from Quinti Septimii Florentis Tertulliani Quae Supersunt Omnia Tertullian Franz Oehler T. O. Weigel Leipzig 1853 (Latin)

This work has passed this project's source check. This is an AI-assisted study translation. Source fidelity and completeness have not been independently certified. Open Latin on each section (or the Latin source witness link) for the source text. This is not a complete critical edition.